4 FanDuel Premier League Studs to Target for Matchweek 16

With Tottenham a big favorite on an otherwise evenly-matched slate, Harry Kane is going to be a popular target this weekend. Who else is in a good spot this week?

As is the case when playing any sport on FanDuel, itâ€™s imperative to hit on high-priced studs, the players in which youâ€™ve made the biggest investment. This is especially true with strikers in soccer as goals are often the difference between winning and losing in DFS.

Letâ€™s take a look at some high-priced players -- all across the pitch -- who, despite costing a good chunk of change, are worth the investment.

This article is geared toward FanDuel's main slate, which begins at 10:00 a.m. EST Saturday and features six matches.

Matchweek 16

Saturday, December 9th

Brighton at Huddersfield

Bournemouth at Crystal Palace

West Brom at Swansea City

Stoke City at Tottenham

Watford at Burnley

Leicester City at Newcastle United

This is a slate without much star power outside of Tottenham, who account for the three highest-priced players. Spurs are 1.5-goal home favorites over Stoke, so they're going to be popular. That's heightened by the fact that four of the five other matches are currently pick 'ems -- the lone exception being Palace as a 0.5-goal favorite over Bournemouth.

So it's going to be a difficult slate to predict ownership (other than Tottenham), and it's also tough to find many high-priced players who make you feel warm and fuzzy. All that makes for a lot of volatility.

Let's get to it.

Forward

Harry Kane, Tottenham

FanDuel Price: $13,500

Kane was rotated out of the squad in Wednesday's Champions League match, so he should be locked and loaded for the sweet home matchup with Stoke.

As we just covered, Spurs are a 1.5-goal favorite on a slate in which only one other team is as much as a 0.5-goal favorite. That means Kane will likely be the slate's highest-owned player, and he's going to be a difference maker one way or another. If you fade him and he doesn't go off, you will likely gain an edge on a huge chuck of the field in tourneys. If you fade him and he has a big day, you're toast.

Kane has -- by far -- the best odds to score in this match (he's 4/9 and Fernando Llorente is second at 10/11), and he's gone over the 20-FanDuel-point mark in three of his last four games, doing it once without a goal, which is a rarity for Kane. He leads the league in shots per match (5.7, 2.1 more than anyone else) and is second in shots on target per match (2.0).

He has massive upside, surpassing 40 FD points four times this season, and is scary to fade this weekend even when you know you're going to have to eat a whole lot of ownership when rostering him.

Midfielder

Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace

FanDuel Price: $9,500

If you opt to fade Kane, then you'll probably want to go with Tottenham's Christian Eriksen ($10,500) or Dele Alli ($11,000) in midfield -- unless you want to completely fade Spurs big three.

Outside of Tottenham, Zaha is one of the more attractive players on the slate. Palace are a 0.5-goal favorite over Bournemouth, and Zaha has good odds to score (7/4, second in the match behind teammate Christian Benteke). In nine starts this season, Zaha has 3 goals, and he's averaging 2.6 shots per outing.

Day 5: If Zaha scores against Newcastle, might change the video to that goal.

Bournemouth are allowing 14.5 shots per match, the fourth-most in the league, and they've allowed three total goals to Burnley and Southampton -- two sides which had been struggling to score -- across their past two matches.

Zaha has been extremely goal-reliant so far this season, but he's in a great spot this week and is one of the few guys available who have big-time upside.

Defender

Kieran Trippier, Tottenham

FanDuel Price: $7,500

Trippier -- who also got the day off in midweek Champions League play -- has been a DFS stud in recent weeks. For the year, he's averaging a robust 19.6 FanDuel points per match, but he's upped his game over his last six, scoring at least 22 points five times in that span.

Opponent

Assists

Chances Created

FanDuel Points

Huddersfield

2

3

33.50

Bournemouth

0

4

28.75

Liverpool

1

2

28.25

Arsenal

0

0

6.00

West Brom

0

7

38.25

Watford

0

0

22.75

Playing as a winger when Tottenham go with three at the back, Trippier has averaged 26.25 FD points per match over his last six, and he's putting up that kind of production even with a 6.0-point clunker against Arsenal. Tottenham were healthy favorites in three of those matches -- Huddersfield, Bournemouth and West Brom -- and Trippier averaged 33.5 points in those three fixtures.

Spurs are 1.5-goal favorites versus Stoke, making Trippier a top-end defensive play this weekend.

Goalie

Lukasz Fabianski, Swansea City

FanDuel Price: $5,000

Fabianski has a dope home matchup with West Brom, a fixture that is a pick 'em with a 2.0-goal over/under.

West Brom have been struggling mightily, especially away from home as they've scored just three goals in their last six away matches. For the year, the Baggies sit next to last in both shots per game (7.6) and possession (41.8%) in road matches.

Fabianski is in a great spot for a clean sheet, but he also offers a little save-volume upside despite West Brom's meager attack. That's because Swansea's defense is pretty bad, allowing the third-most shots (14.5) in the league this season.

Austan Kas is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austan Kas also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username akas247. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.